Eastside City Park

The Challenges

The linear park at the heart of the regeneration of Birmingham Eastside should exemplify contemporary landscape design of the highest order. This will be prestigious public realm of crucial and enduring importance. It will also be a declaration of intent for the future, and an indication of both confidence and aspiration.

Solutions

The park consists of a series of notional ‘rooms’ that are intended to be part of the city’s network of public spaces. The main spaces in the park are City Park Square (event space) and the eastern and western formal lawns, all linked by the spine path.

These open spaces are flanked by intensive edges of steel and precast concrete structures; groups of single-species of trees, both evergreen and deciduous; paving; and formal planting which is also arranged into single-species blocks. Within these edges, there are numerous smaller scale spaces that have specific characteristics and numerous thresholds. The range of scales allow the park to function on a civic and an individual level.

The steel work is painted a very dark green, except for the weathering steel used for the lighting fins and columns in City Park Square which give that space a special characteristic. Prominent steel structures such as the pergolas, planting screens and the lighting fins all help to define the structure of the park.

The pergolas straddle the spine path, providing rhythm and variation along its 370m length, with colour and seasonal variation from climbing wisteria.

The lighting fins are sculptural features on the terraces of the square. Their height, colour and leaf patterned cladding panels give them prominence as reference points within the park. They are internally lit from below, which highlights each one’s subtly different cladding.

The 190x3m water feature is a strong part of the composition, defining the south facing promenade. On its north edge there is a zone of scots pine trees and iroko and steel seating. Summer time paddling is sure to be popular.